The year 2017 will go down as the year sexual harassment claims erupted — from Hollywood to D.C., from Harvey Weinstein to Kevin Spacey, from senate candidate Roy Moore to Sen. Al Franken. Lest we forget, this year Nevada had its own sex scandal, but, unlike the others, this one was buried in secrecy and the accused allowed to resign and slink away. State Sen. Mark Manendo, a Las Vegas Democrat, resigned in July after the taxpayers shelled out $67,125.12[…]

Thank goodness for the veto pen. Gov. Brian Sandoval used that veto pen this past week to block an attempt by Democratic lawmakers to rollback a modest cost-saving measure passed by the Republican-controlled 2015 Legislature. Assembly Bill 154 would have raised the cost of construction of university and public school buildings by reimposing the so-called prevailing wage on more projects. Prevailing wage laws require that workers on public construction jobs be paid no less than the “prevailing” wage in the[…]

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When Gov. Brian Sandoval declared there would be no special session to wrap up unfinished legislative business, I knew he had thrown in the towel and education savings accounts were toast. There were ways the ESAs could’ve been saved, as one newspaper columnist pointed out Sunday. Sandoval could’ve used his veto and Republican state senators could’ve held their ground. But no. They folded, surrendered, slunk away with their tails between their legs. The 8,000 to 10,000 students hoping their parents[…]

Gov. Brian Sandoval signed into law this past week a legislatively passed bill that makes it illegal for any psychotherapist in Nevada to provide conversion therapy to anyone under the age of 18. Senate Bill 201 defines conversion therapy as “any practice or treatment that seeks to change the sexual orientation or gender identity of a person.” It states this therapy is barred “regardless of the willingness of the person or his or her parent[…]

We now know the pecking order in Nevada. In his State of the State speech this past week Gov. Brian Sandoval boasted that the Tesla gigafactory near Sparks, in addition to making batteries for electric cars, would also be making electric motors and gearboxes, adding 550 workers. Left unsaid was who would pay for the police and fire, schools and other government services those workers would need, since Tesla was given $1.3 billion in tax breaks and credits, as well as[…]

Nevada has every reason to feel like a slighted wallflower. We keep getting invited to the big sage grouse dance, but never get asked to dance. Gov. Brian Sandoval and Attorney Adam Laxalt and others have complained bitterly that state and local input on how to protect the sage grouse population and still conduct economically productive endeavors on the land the birds occupy have been roundly and almost universally ignored by the federal land agencies. A lawsuit filed by Laxalt on behalf[…]

After eight years of Obama appointees trying to grab dominion over every square foot of rural land in Nevada and the West, laying claim to every mud puddle, dictating how clean the air must be and generally trampling states’ rights under a stampede of bureaucrats, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency promises to be an abrupt about-face and double-time march toward sanity. Trump’s pick to head the EPA, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, has locked horns with the[…]